Ex-teacher convicted of molesting two students

By Craig Kapitan :
January 30, 2013

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It took jurors less than three hours Wednesday to side with two elementary school students who said former teacher Arturo Flores molested them during class.

Flores, 56, who operated the computer lab at St. John Berchmans Catholic School, was convicted of three counts of indecency with a child. He was acquitted of two additional charges, and another two counts were waived by prosecutors before closing arguments.

Jurors were expected to deliberate again today, this time to determine a punishment that could range from probation to 20 years in prison for each conviction. After the verdict, state District Judge Raymond Angelini will have the option of stacking the sentences.

Flores' first accuser told jurors this week that the teacher stood behind her in class and grabbed her crotch over her clothing multiple times during the 2010-11 school year, when she was in second grade. Anther student said Flores stuck his hand down her skirt one time the previous school year, when she was in third grade.

“This case comes down to credibility,” prosecutor Jessica Frazier said during closing arguments. “What do they have to gain by coming here and telling you 12 strangers about their ... trauma? They're embarrassed, they're scared, they're nervous.”

Defense attorney Abel Dominguez Sr. pointed out that the first accuser was disciplined in Flores' class the day before she made an outcry. He suggested the second accuser had picked up sexual innuendos from the Twilight movie series, which she had testified she was a fan of.

It would be impossible for Flores to have committed such acts in a crowded classroom, Dominguez argued.

“I can't explain what happened or what they're thinking,” he said. “I can tell you there are no dirty little secrets here.”

As the punishment phase of the trial began Wednesday afternoon, jurors heard for the first time from another student who said she witnessed Flores once ask a girl sitting next to her in the computer lab to see her panties. When the student complied, he responded,
“Que bonita” — “How beautiful” — the student said.

The child testified outside the presence of the jury earlier this week, but the judge ruled her allegation would be too prejudicial during the first phase of the trial.

The defense has not yet had an opportunity to call witnesses. Dominguez told jurors he will ask for probation.